Emergency Checklist - Earthquake
How can I prepare for a Earthquake?
Earthquakes:
Earthquakes are caused by the breaking and shifting of subterranean rock. While earthquakes are often believed to be a West Coast phenomenon, there are in fact 45 states and territories throughout the United States that are at moderate to high risk for earthquakes. Since it is impossible to predict when an earthquake will occur, it is important that you and your family are prepared ahead of time.
How can you be prepared?
Step 1: Get a Kit
4ursurvival offers complete survival and 72 hour kits, designed and assembled according to guidelines given by government agencies and non-profit preparedness organizations. These kits include items such as:
•non-perishable food
•water
•a battery-powered radio
•flashlight and batteries
•first-aid kit
•blankets
•matches
•and much more
4ursurvival also offers smaller portable kits with similar items that you should keep in your car.
Step 2: Make a Plan
Make a family emergency plan. Disaster can strike at any time, and the family may not be together, so it is important to know how you will contact one another, how you will get back together and what you will do in case of an emergency.
•Plan where your family will meet, both within and outside of your neighborhood
•Be sure that every family member knows what to do in different types of emergencies
•Be sure to consider the specific needs of each individual family member
Inquire about emergency plans at places where your family spends time such as work, daycare and school. If no plans exist, consider volunteering to help create one.
Step 3: Be Informed
Prepare Your Home
•Fasten shelves securely to walls.
•Place large or heavy objects on lower shelves.
•Store breakable items such as bottled foods, glass, and china in low, closed cabinets with latches.
•Hang heavy items like pictures and mirrors away from beds, couches, and anywhere people sit.
•Brace overhead light fixtures.
•Repair defective electrical wiring and leaky gas connections. These are potential fire risks.
•Secure a water heater by strapping it to the wall studs and bolting it to the floor.
•Repair any deep cracks in ceilings or foundations. Get expert advice if there are signs of structural defects.
•Store weed killers, pesticides, and flammable products in closed cabinets with latches on bottom shelves.
•Identify safe places indoors and outdoors like under sturdy furniture or against an inside wall away from where glass could shatter around windows, mirrors, pictures or where heavy bookcases or other heavy furniture could fall over.
Listen to Local Officials
•Learn about the emergency plans that have been established in your area by your state and local government. In any emergency, listen to the instructions given by local emergency management officials.
•For additional information on how to plan and prepare for earthquakes, as well as what to do during and after an earthquake, visit the following:
◦Federal Emergency Management Agency
◦NOAA Watch
◦American Red cross